My Fijian Village Homestay

Hi All!

Well I am finally back from my south pacific adventure! Spent 3.5months in NZ teaching, then headed off to Fiji and Samoa. I had an amazing time and wanted to share it with you in hopes that it can help you in your trip... Everyone helped me so much when I was planning for my trip, so if you have any questions feel free to ask!!! :-)

While in Fiji I stayed with a Fijian Family in a remote Fijian village, as well as went off to one of the islands, and then slowly made my way around the island...

So here we go...I arrived in Fiji around 5:30pm to be greeted by Mary, the lady who organizesthe viallage homestays. Incredibly nice, and she took me to where I was to catch the shuttle to my hostel (Nadi Bay Hotel). I stayed in the 4 bed private dorm, which ended up being 2 beds in the main room, then 2 other bedrooms with 2 beds each in them as well. We all shared a bathroom, which was ok, but I kept getting woken up because my "room" didnt have a door to it. Just walked into my room through the main door. haha On the way back I stayed there again and opted for a single room...I splurged...totally worth it after having been in dorms for a while!!

Anywho, stayed at Nadi Bay my first night in Fiji. Enjoyed some Fiji Bitter and great food at the hotel. A little pricy compared to local restaurants, but still a good deal with the exchange rate! The next morning Mary met me and we went to catch the local bus to Raki-Raki (north of Nadi). Once we got there we hired a taxi to take us to the remote village (Vatukacevaceva). There is a bus that goes there, but only twice a day. So we arrived at the village and it was beautiful! It is in the sacred mountains and you must get permission from the chief before you go there, which Mary had done for me already. I was the only white person there, and it had been a while since one had been there. All of the kids followed me around everywhere and called me "kevalange" which if fijian for white person. Few of the people in the village spoke english, which was interesting at times, but great fun trying to communicate!!!

I had a "host" family that I lived with while there. I helped them out with making meals, and cleaning, but they wouldnt let me do much!!! I taught the kids how to play the card game "go-fish" and that was all they wanted to do. I went to the river to swim with Kereiwasa and her daughter and her friend since they were too young to go to school. I also made a trip to the wschool and told the children a story as well as taught them a couple of songs. I even helped to mark their homework. Oh if you go, bring candies!!! The kids will follow you around, even the ones who cannot speak yet, and saw "lolly, lolly, lolly" asking for a candy.

I got to taste a lot of fijian food such as "duruka" which they called fijian asparagus, lots of fish, kasava, polusami, interesting "candies", chicken...not many veggies, but plenty of kasava...as well as some rice, oh and corned beef was big too. Fijian donuts for breakfast with fresh honey and weak coffee.

On my frist day in the village I was invited by the chief to a kava ceremony. Almost all of the village came to see the white person, and to drink kava. It was really cool. They taught me the proper way, with the clapping and all. Everyone wanted to touch my hair, talk to me and look at my pictures of Canada. During my stay at the village I was invited to many kava ceremonies, which I enjoyed, and impressed them as well by being adventurous and trying it!

I stayed in the village for only 3nights, and 3 days...I wish I could have stayed longer, but I was on my way. Amazingly enough there was a flush toilet for me to use, as well as a shower...the shower was just a pipe with scrap metal around it to give you a little bit or privacy. I showered at night, clothed, just because I did not want to attract any more attention than I needed to!!! My host "mom" sat with me with a flashlight to make sure all was well!

During my entire stay at the village I had to wear sarongs down to my ankles, and t-shirts. This was to be respectful to their culture, and I continued to dress like this during my entire stay in Fiji when I went into towns and villages. It was amazing how much more respect I got from the locals then other tourists.

This is all I can think of now...I did have a blog going when I was away, so if you are interested in reading more or seeing pictures let me know. I will post a message on my Samoa trip shortly. Can only do so much at once during these busy times!!! Oh, and this is the website that I found out about this homestay http://www.fijianfamilies.com/

allisong - thank you, looks, like you had a true Fiji experience - just like I had it when I came first to Fiji 17 years ago...

But there is one sentence in your report, I would like you to reconsider ( and to be honest I've done same thing for years) - as much as the kids appriciate and want candies - it hurts me to see kids between 2 and 6 with completely rotten teeth. Parents bring 3 year olds to the dentist to have teeth pulled. You see 4 year olds with hardly any tooth in the moouth.
Most schools start the day with "teeth-brushing" because at home they don't learn it, by then they are 6 years old and the second teeth are already damaged.

So there is a challenge: What can replace candies????

I take small games what my almost grown - up kids don't use anymore - also colouring pens, colouring books, balloons, soap bubbles.....

more ideas????

just having anoher thought - rugby, soccer or volleyballs for a group of primary students. Due to a lack of ball they use coke bottles - and leave them were they finish their game - this contributes to waste pollution of landscape, village or town...... a proper ball would be cherished and be picked up.

It's not just that handing out candy will result in rotting teeth, I am also disturbed by its encouraging of begging as already indicated in OP: "kids will follow you around, even the ones who cannot speak yet, and saw "lolly, lolly, lolly" asking for a candy."

I really think it's best not to hand out ANYTHING to children directly, rather to give them to local adults to distribute.

I have fortunately never encountered begging kids like those described above anywhere in the region (I suppose they are found only in some of the villages regularly visited by tourists), but they are ubiquitous in places like Nepal and India and I don't think we should contribute to the phenomenon's spreading into the South Pacific.

Other than this issue, the homestays as described both in this post and on the website seem to be a great way to experience the "real Fiji" away from the resorts. There have been quite a few posts by people looking for this kind of experience recently, so it may be worth promoting this program.

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I am also disturbed by its encouraging of begging as already indicated in OP: "kids will follow you around, even the ones who cannot speak yet, and saw "lolly, lolly, lolly"

God point Lazlo - I also realize this more and more - but again, to be honest - if I'm invited somewhere in Europe, knowing kids are present I would bring something SMALL for them...

Hey guys,

I can see both of your points. I did not find many of the children had rotted out teeth at all. I had not planned on bringing any candies, I had stocked up on pencils, stickers and pins from Canada and had brought those. It was Mary, the organizer that told me that I must bring candies...But after being in the village you dont necessarily have to bring actual candies. You could bring dried fruit, or trail mix. Just as long as it is something different, something that the children do not get often.

I did not encourage the begging either. As a teacher I do not think this is right, therefore I would not give the children candies if they asked. I would just randomly give them candies here and there. So maybe if we can continue this with the next visitors we can break the cycle? I guess it just depends on the people doing the visiting if they agree with it or not. Just wanted to let you know that I agree with you guys and hope people try to do what I tried to do when I was there :-)

Thank you for your report, you truly had a special experience.

It's nice to know that there are places where you aren't the millionth tourist to pass through though it's interesting to note the "disadvantages" (there's a better word I'm sure for what I'm trying to say) in that you give up privacy, are the center of attention, need to dress differently than normally on holiday and have to be an ambassador and provide education and entertainment too.

I was going to comment on this yesterday but held back. Here in the States one of the first rules that parents teach children is Never Take Candy from Strangers. (And those Strangers can take vacations also.)

Certainly it's nice to give ones hosts presents for their children or donate something to the Chief for the village children or to the school. I remember the hordes of children in Africa all crying "Donnez moi Bic" (a popular brand of pen) so I would suggest not giving anything directly to children one does not know. It certainly feels good for the moment to be bestowing all these goodies but I know that here where I live it would be absolutely unacceptable to walk into a place where children are gathered and start handing out gifts to them.

I would love some help on where to stay in tonga in feb please!

hi Allisong!
do you have any info on the homestay you enjoyed so much?
I'd love to do the same.
thanks!